Hi again..So it's going on my 3rd week with my 25 gal salt water aqu. and touch wood everything is going good so far.I have 2 in. of live sand across the bottom..11 pounds of live rock..a 400 powerhead and a millinium 3000 wet dry multi filter..I have a 1 and a half in. spotted cardinal..A 1 and a half in. tomato clown.A 2 and a half in pacific blue tang and 3 small hermit crabs. thats all the fish i will be getting until I upsize down the road..I just did a watertest yesterday and the levels are perfect..so my question is..When should i perform my first waterchange?..how much should I change?..and whats the best way to go about it ...my level are now ...PH 8.2 AMMON 0.0 NITRITE 0.0 NITRATE 10 PPM..THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP

hey, i'm no pro on this, so someone else step in and correct me if I'm wrong here. As long as its a FO/FOWLR setup, I think in general you want to keep nitrates below 30 ppm. Sooooo, as long as your nitrates are below that, then you are fine. Although, it never hurts to do water changes on a regular schedule, even if your nitrates are below the 30 ppm level.

I think most people recommend doing a 25% water change once a month, or a 10% water change bi-weekly (whichever you prefer). Otherwise, just monitor the water's conditions, and do water changes as necessary to keep the nitrates down.

BTW, a 25gal might be much too small for a tang. I think tanks 75gal or larger are minimum (with 100+ gal recommended), as tangs will grow very large. I know you mentioned planning to upgrade to a larger tank in the future, but unless its in the near future, just keep an eye on that tang. Good luck!

thnx for the knowledge..can I ask how often.. and how much you feed?your tang or fish for that matter..i was told to feed my 3 fairly small fish just a peasize amount of frozen brime shrimp once a day..but they appear to be hungry after they have consumed it all within a min..anymore help will be appreciated. thx

sure, I'm glad I could help. I also have a Pacific Blue Tang, and I have two false percula clowns and a single Midas Blenny (along with a collection of inverts/cleaners).

I feed them once every two days (at the direction of my LFS), and I only use a half of a cube of the frozen meaty seafood. The cubes are about the size of standard dice, and I just cut one of those in half, thaw it in a cup of the aquarium water, mash it up good after it's thawed, and drop it in the tank. I also have an algae clip attached to the side of my tank, where I keep bits of seaweed for the tang and blenny to graze on. Aside from that, they pick on algae growing around the tank.

Even though it seems a little mean (its really not though! :)), its better/more healthy to keep your fish constantly slightly hungry. You'll never encounter a big, fat, overweight fish in the wild. But, the fish will always try and beg for food when you approach the tank, so don't let them peer pressure you :)